Image from “The Human Brain is a Time Traveller” from the NY Times
Time can move at different speeds when moving forward instead of when we look back.
Today I’ll give two illustrations of this then leave you with a favourite tip for those leading change and beginning the journey.
Settling into a new home
A simple example for me is that I moved into my new home nearly two months ago and, whilst I love that it felt like home very quickly, it will be at least six months from when I moved into when all of the updating, redecorating etc is “finished” to the point where I can wake up each day without a “to do” list and simply enjoy the home. I am both enjoying the process and a little impatient, as I love a home to be “done” so I can simply enjoy being in it as opposed to having tasks to do to improve it.
As I sit here, the coming months feel like they will take a long time as I move through time to the end point of all the various contractor projects and DIY. At the same time, when I last moved over only some two and a half years ago, it also took something like eight months for everything to be “done”, and, as I only moved from that house two months ago, I can easily remember how nice it felt to just sit in my armchair with my morning coffee and enjoy the “finished” place. The key thought is that I had rapidly forgotten that it had taken eight months to get it the way I liked it, it had simply been “done”.
So, in this example, the months ahead feel long, but I also know that, once they are over, that timeframe will feel short in my memory.
Parenthood
As a father of adult children, the same thought can be applied. The roughly two and a half decades from my oldest being born to the youngest moving to young adulthood, that time period now feels too short, the memories are still there, but they blend into one another much more than I would like. However, when I can capture one of those memories, such as young children playing on the beach on the Isle of Lewis, I can strongly remember the moments, hours, days, weeks, months and even years and all the many feelings and experiences, all of which now feel somewhat compressed in memory as and when I look backwards.
Starting at the end of the journey and looking back
I can also then look at this through the eyes of business. One thought that comes to mind is when a business has a major transformation ahead. Imagine one where it will take a lot of work and a lot of change over at least three to five years. Looking at that timeframe forward it can feel to the people in the business that this will take a long time and will be hard. However, once they get there, looking back it will feel very different, they will focus more on where they are once all is completed and the time and effort it took to get there can feel far easier looking backwards.
For those leading such change, I often recommend presenting their vision of the future from the future looking back to the present day, that way taking advantage of the fact that time can move faster (and with less effort!) by looking backwards. One way to do this is via language and the tense we use, such as a leader stepping up in front of their business, with a screen behind them simply with the name of the business and the year, with that year being (say) five years hence. The leader may begin with:
“Welcome, all of you, to the ABC Corp annual all-staff meeting for 2028! Today I’m going to begin by celebrating where we are today as a business, then recapping the momentous and transformative journey we have been on to get us to where we are today! We are now 80,000 people in 35 countries and the undisputed employer of choice and fastest-growing company in our industry. What a transformation from five years ago, when we were 30,000 people in 12 countries and about to commence a much-needed comprehensive transformation process!”
As a way of presenting, standing out in the future looking back is energising for everyone about to go on the journey, utilising as it does the reality that time can move at different speeds for us depending on our vantage point!